{"id":9940,"date":"2012-07-18T16:38:43","date_gmt":"2012-07-18T16:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/?p=9940"},"modified":"2012-07-18T16:38:43","modified_gmt":"2012-07-18T16:38:43","slug":"emerging-frank-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/2012\/07\/18\/emerging-frank-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"EMERGING: Frank Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the age of Photoshop, it\u2019s reassuring that people like Frank Laws<\/a> are still putting brush to paper. The east Londoner specializes in hyperrealistic paintings of gritty estates, transforming the grim sights into something altogether more mysterious and subtle. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

Why are you so drawn to council estates?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not necessarily because they\u2019re council estates. I like showing people\u2019s existence without having to shoe people \u2013 their laundry lines and lights. I think early council estates are really beautiful buildings, because of the care and attention put into them at the time. I try to represent that by incorporating as much detail into them. <\/p>\n

You\u2019ve painted recognizable east London sights like the infamous Pembury estate, where the riots kicked off. Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m an observer and I live round here. I just see buildings I like and I try to read up as much as possible on them. The amount of work that went into the Pembury Estate is crazy when you think about it. It\u2019ll never happen again. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s the creation process like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The main image for this show took me about a month. I start on watercolour paper, stretched out onto board. Then I work in lots and lots of layers of Indian ink. I\u2019m using tiny little pots so I get through quite a lot of those! Then I build in the detail on top. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When did you start painting buildings?<\/strong><\/p>\n

About two or three years ago, during my MA. I lived in Norwich before, but I grew up in a little village. When I moved to London, I moved to the big city for the first time and I was very intrigued by it. <\/p>\n

When did you start painting?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My mum and dad are both from art backgrounds. I used to paint with my mum in her little studio. <\/p>\n

And we hear that you used to be a bricklayer…?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t say I was a bricklayer, I worked for a year as a labourer! A lot of that influenced my work though. I start at nine and try to do a full day\u2019s work, that sort of work ethic comes from being a labourer. I was really bored when I was doing that, because there wasn\u2019t any creativity, but it makes you work as hard as possible at doing what you want to do. You forget how lucky you are if you get to do art and go to art school. <\/p>\n

Do you think that in the digital age, people are losing traditional art skills like painting?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think people\u2019s skills have gone, I think they don\u2019t have time to do it. People want things really quickly now. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So what do you say to all the people who think that council estates are grim?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t want to paint something I actually thought was ugly! I think my paintings look moody, but there\u2019s a beauty about them as well. <\/p>\n

Do you have a favourite building in London?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arnold Circus in Shoreditch is beautiful, but it\u2019s almost too nice to suit my work!<\/p>\n

What are your influences?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t really look at a lot of illustrators. A few of my tutors were influential. And Hopper, obviously. Plus George Shaw, which is quite weird because I didn\u2019t know his work before, but it\u2019s quite similar to mine. It\u2019s just one of those things that sort of happens! <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Frank Laws<\/a>\u2019 London Bits<\/em> exhibition will run from 25 July till 24 August at the Orange Dot Gallery, 11am-5pm, 54 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9RG. <\/p>\n

Words: Zing Tsjeng<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the age of Photoshop, it\u2019s reassuring that people like Frank Laws are still putting brush to paper. The east Londoner specializes in hyperrealistic paintings of gritty estates, transforming the grim sights into something altogether more mysterious and subtle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[305],"tags":[305,488,2719,2717,559,50,2718,2721,2720,495,2047],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEMERGING: Frank Laws | Wonderland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"EMERGING: Frank Laws.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/2012\/07\/18\/emerging-frank-laws\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EMERGING: Frank Laws | Wonderland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" 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